Thursday 1st

It's November and it feels cold and chilly.  John is working on Glasgow so Rachel and Alfie are coming up by train to stay the night here.  As well as that, my friend Robin is in Glasgow this week.  I thought it was to avoid the hurricane in New York but that was just good fortune.  She has to fly over her to go to the American Embassy in London to sort out her visa.  You see, she is still a British citizen and she has to get a permit to work in America, even though she has got a job in New York (paid by the state) running a Montessori school for under-privileged kids. 

Les Trois Chats

Now there are three orange cats being fed by the Cahours.  One is the mpother of the other two ... don't know which is which.  They all look identical!

Albi Damned!

By Thursday it had got so hot that we were running into the shadows to escape the heat.  We drove to Albi, which is about 2 hours away, to see the cathedral.  It is probably one of the most famous in the whole world.  Behind the altar is a gigantic fresco showing the Day of Judgement with all the bad people being sent down into Hell.  The idea was to remind people of the kind of terrible fate that awaited them if they led a sinful life. This photo is just one tiny bit of the whole thing.

Mardi

For some reason, I am having no luck adding photographs from here in France.  Maybe the internet is too slow.

It has been a beautiful hot sunny day today.  Went to market and met a lot of our friends there, then John and Eileen came for drinks at six.  They were only going to stay an hour but they went home at ten so we had a very late dinner.  Off for a walk in the moonlight.

At Moissac Market

Giant gourds for sale at Moissac

Off To France

This Saturday we're going to Edinburgh airport to get a cheap Ryanair flight to Bordeaux and then drive down to Montjoi.  It takes less than two hours on the motorway.  The house will be quite cold at first so we might just stop at Pizza La Mama on the way for something to eat.

The forecast for Sunday dull and rainy but that is a good thing because it will let us see if there are any problems with the new roof.  They only finished the work on Thursday.  By Monday it should be sunny and warm again and we'll have a log fire going to warm the house.

A Splash In The Pan

Jess and Izzy really liked this YouTube video of a cat that does not need a litter tray.

Drink This, Buddy!

 

Sculpture/ fountain by Edwin Wurm

Thumb Thing Different

Fingertips made to look like famous people.  Is this digital art?

A Load Of Bad Puns

I changed my i Pod name to Titanic:  it's syncing now. I tried to catch some Fog, I mist. When chemists die, they barium. Jokes about German sausage are the wurst. A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran. I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time. How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it. I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me. This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore. I'm reading a book about anti-gravity, I can't put it down. I did a theatrical performance about puns, It was a play on words . They told me I had type A blood, but it was a Type-O. A dyslexic man walks into a bra . PMS jokes aren't funny, period. Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations. I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me. How do you make holy water? Boil the hell out of it! Did you hear about the cross eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils? When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble. What does a clock do when it's hungry? It goes back four seconds. I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me! Broken pencils are pointless. What do you call a dinosaur with a extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus. England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool . I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest. I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx. All the toilets in New York 's police stations have been stolen. Police have nothing to go on. I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough. Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes. Velcro - what a rip off! Cartoonist found dead in home. Details are sketchy. Venison for dinner? Oh deer! Earthquake in Washington obviously government's fault. I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.

Zombie Experiment

If you don't like Zombies, do not watch this movie on YouTube!!!

Car Fixed

Beautiful sunny day today, but very cold.  Feels like the beginning of winter.Took a whole load of stuff to the dump and went for a walk in Dawsholm park.  You feel like a weirdo there if you haven't got three or four dogs with you.  The middle of the field is all fenced off because the ground start to collapse into an old mine. After that, we went to Ikea to return a few things and then went to pick up our car from the garage.

The repair to the bumper is terrific - you would never know it had been damaged.  Tonight I am going to have a go at puting up a curtain rail in Jess's room.

Panda Dogs

Have you seen this latest craze from China?

More Chinese Signs

Hoping For Sunshine in France

The men are going to start work on our house in Montjoi today, so it is very important that they get some dry weather.  Firstly they will have to lift all the tiles off the roof, throw away the bad ones and keep the good ones.  Then they will cover the roof with a fabric membrane to make it more waterproof and then nail lots of strips of wood across the roof.  The under-tiles have little legs that catch onto these strips to stop them sliding down the roof.

The skylight window in our bedroom will have to be taken out and raised higher because the new roof will be a bit 'thicker' than the old one.  Lastly, all the old top tiles get put back on.  If there are not enough, they'll have to go and buy some more old tiles.  Montjoi is a protected village which means you are not allowed to have brand new tiles showing on your roof.

We think they'll get it all done in 3-4 days.  We'll be flying out on the last of the cheap flights from Edinburgh to Bordeaux on the 20th October the work and clean up the mess.

Citroen Bumper

My car is in the garage having its bumper repaired.  I will not get it back until maybe Tuesday.  They ordered a new fog-light and black trim piece but when they took the bumper off, they found that there was another support piece broken which will have to be ordered.  All in all, it will cost even more than I thought o get it repaired.

Don't Try This At Home

This is rather gross.  So maybe just don't try it anywhere?

Warning Signs

Birthday Treat

Marion had to get up early on her birthday today for her birthday  treat - a trip to the dentist at nine o'clock to get a new tooth socket fitted in.  So no sticky toffee presents, please!

Unfortunate Names